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The UK government recently published an updated note on UK participation in the EU research funding programme, Horizon 2020. The update includes details on the current negotiation status on future UK participation as part of Brexit discussions, as well as confirmation of the recently announced extension of the Underwrite Guarantee for UK participants in the event of a ‘no deal’ outcome.

The updated note follows previousupdates issued following the EU referendum and outlines the current position in relation to the proposed Withdrawal Agreement between the UK and EU, the UK government’s Underwrite Guarantee (including the newly announced Post-EU Exit Guarantee Extension), and the UK government’s aspirations for UK participation in Horizon 2020’s successor programme, Horizon Europe (2021-2027).

Withdrawal Agreement

The note outlines the position in the draft of the Withdrawal Agreement between the UK and EU that UK participants in on-going EU funded projects will continue to receive an uninterrupted flow of EU funding for the lifetime of the project. Furthermore, it envisages that UK participants will be eligible to bid for Horizon 2020 funding for the duration of the programme, including after the UK’s withdrawal from the EU, as both partners and in coordinating consortia.read more

We are inviting high quality applications to a special call of the internal research support fund. A condition of this call is that awards must be spent by 31 July 2018. The form can be found on Research development website, here.

Form and Guidance Notes

Overview

This form enables you to apply for internal research funding, which supports a range of activity based on the following criteria:

Sustainability of research, e.g. demonstrably leading to further research bids, collaborative projects, significant publications, or access to new research funds;

The contribution that the application will make to the research strategy of both the Research Centre / School and wider University;

Evidence of the applicant’s research and career ambitions.

What can be Funded?

The Research Support Fund will support a range of research-related activity such as participation at conferences of international standing, the preparation of large-scale bids (in general over £150,000, depending on the discipline) for external research funding, or lead to outputs of REFable quality. It will cover direct costs such as travel and accommodation, teaching time buy-out and research assistance, and conducting preparatory research trials. Under normal circumstances 50% matched funding must be evidenced, either from internal or external sources (above 50% matched funding will be at the discretion of the review panel, except for conference participation). There are limit to what funds are available and conference participation will be capped at £750 and for other activity such as bidding development or a pilot project a maximum of £3,000. There is no set format for your visit or project and examples of activity that could be funded include:read more

As reported earlier this year, a team from Salford led by Professor Laurence Kenney from the School of Health Sciences, recently secured a £1.4m grant from the Global Challenges Research Fund. The grant is for a project researching the potential for use of body-powered prostheses in low- and middle-income countries.

The project, a collaboration with the Universities of Southampton, Greenwich, UCL along with the University of Jordan and Makerere University in Uganda, is funded by the Engineering and Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC) and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). The aim of the project is to develop a body-powered prosthesis that is optimised for adoption by prosthetic services in developing countries and which, crucially, is acceptable for users in those countries.

Laurence recently spoke to Research Professional about his experience of applying for, and winning, a major grant of this type from the Global Challenges Research Fund. In the interview, he reflects on the importance of building partnerships even before you have identified a source of funding to support the collaboration, and on how researchers from non-Russell Group universities can position themselves to win such a prestigious grant.read more

Given the on-going uncertainty and widespread misapprehensions about the eligibility of UK-based applicants to participate in EU research and higher education funding programmes, Universities UK (UUK) have issued a briefing note summarising the current position.

The key message is that, despite the UK’s decision to leave the EU, nothing has changed in terms of the UK’s status in EU programmes including Horizon 2020 and Erasmus+. UK-based applicants are therefore encouraged to continue to work with collaborators across the EU in developing applications for funding under both programmes.

The agreement on Phase One of the negotiations for the UK’s exit from the EU – announced in December 2017 – clarifies that the UK will continue to pay into the EU budget up until the end of the current budget period in 2020 and therefore there will be no change in the UK’s status in relation to these programmes until 2021 at the earliest.read more

The Horizon 2020 Work Programme for 2018-2020, covering the final three years of the EU’s current research & innovation funding programme, was officially announced at the end of October. The Work Programme contains details of all of the proposed calls across all three pillars of Horizon 2020.

The list of calls announced runs in the hundreds and therefore can seem to be overwhelming to navigate. In this post therefore, we wanted to provide a brief overview of the structure of the Work Programme, a selection of some of the calls that may be of particular interest to Salford academics, along with details of where to go to find out more and to search through all of the available opportunities.

Horizon 2020 Structure

The Horizon 2020 programme is structured into three main ‘pillars’ (Excellent Science, Industrial Leadership and Societal Challenges). Each of these pillars focuses on a different type of research & innovation action: bottom-up, curiosity-driven research (Excellent Science); applied and close-to-market research & innovation actions with an industry focus (Industrial Leadership); challenge-driven collaborative research & innovation actions addressing some of the grand themes affecting both the EU and the wider world (Societal Challenges). Within each pillar there are sub-categories, all of which have their own part of the Work Programme.read more

Who can apply?

Applications will be accepted from all current University of Salford staff.

How to apply

To apply for funding applicants must submit an online application detailing their project and the need for funding. The criteria will be checked and a judging panel will determine if funding is awarded.read more

Our annual EU Research Funding day takes place on Wednesday 1 November 2017. In addition, this year we are coordinating our event with those being held by MMU and University of Manchester on 31 October and 2 November, allowing Salford staff to register for sessions on whichever day is most suitable for them.

The Horizon 2020 Research & Innovation Programme is the EU’s primary research funding mechanism. The programme is hugely popular and many calls are extremely competitive. We have therefore invited our UKRO European Advisor, Ian Devine, to visit the 3 Manchester universities to give an insider’s view on the how give your proposals the best possible chance of success, to coincide with the announcement of the latest Work Programme, covering 2018-2020.

With a budget of nearly €80bn covering the period 2014-2020, Horizon 2020 is the key source of research funding available from the EU and offers opportunities for international research collaboration, European and international fellowships, individual research grants, feasibility studies and research for SMEs, doctoral training and much more.read more